My own way to burn

"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves-or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control.

If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."

Sophie Scholl - 1921 - 1943 - German student, a member of the White Rose society, a non-violent anti Nazi resistance group.

Liquid Sunshine

Wow. 

Just, wow.

My thanks to Terri for tweeting about this, found at the following site:

http://www.dailygrail.com/Alien-Nation/2013/2/Liquid-Sunshine

"

Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun's atmosphere, the corona.

On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays -- a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

"

Wow.

Deranging America

The article was called Deranging America, but it echoes so well with what i've seen in South Africa, it could be Deranging South Africa.

dissidentvoice.org - Deranging America by Linh Dinh / February 20th, 2013

Violence, always violence. From infancy, Americans are conditioned to enjoy violence, then lured or pressured to support it at every stage of life. Merely by voting, Americans sanction carnage against foreigners, and to have a healthy stock portfolio, one should also invest in mass murder.

______________________________________

Short article, but very pointed.

Thought

Like Janis

And you measure for wealth by the things you can hold
And you measure for love by the sweet things you're told
And you live in the past or a dream that you're in
And your selfishness is your cardinal sin

And you want to be held with highest regard
It delights you so much if he's trying so hard
And you try to conceal your ordinary way
With a smile or a shrug or some stolen cliche'

But don't you understand, and don't you look about
I'm trying to take nothing from you
So why should you act so put out for me?

'Cos emotionally you're the same basic trip
And you know that I know of the times that you slip
So don't try to impress me, you're just pins and paint
And don't try to charm me with things that you ain't

And don't try to enchant me with your manner of dress
'Cos a monkey in silk is a monkey no less
So measure for measure reflect on my said
And when I won't see you then measure it dead

'Cos don't you understand, and don't you look about
I'm trying to take nothing from you
So why should you act so put out,
And sit there in wonder and doubt, for me?

Rodriguez

Because

So I've decided that i really like Sarah Britten, who is a lady in Joburg who is alive and living and thinking and sharing and doing stuff. The blog The Red Robot Project is hers, and now there's another project:

Because Anene.

http://becauseanene.wordpress.com/



Because they were bored.

Because they took drugs.

Because they are poor.

Because they were angry.

Of all the hype and verbiage created by this soul destroying act that has claimed international attention, i think that this kind of response is more positive, inspiring and angering at the same time. This kind of statement is an EMOTIONAL statement ... and this problem needs an emotional response, angry, hurt, fearful and brutal.

Sarah's "thing" is using lipstick as paint, and in this "rape" debate it is a shamelessly pointed standpoint, as much as ! is nothing more than an sharp intake of breath.

It is time for rapists to feel the horror of police, prisons, prisoners and the awfully long sentence. It is long overdue that the fear is transplanted from our daughters and friends onto the men and boys who have nothing else to fear, yet delight in creating it for others.

And yes, if anyone asks, i am pro capital punishment on this, and also pro vigilantism. Taking a rape victim to a police station is only giving her over to a longer, more demeaning rape of public scrutiny of a woman's most personal space. If a man rapes someone, it is only good and proper that he is either killed outright or permanently scarred for life, castration seems particularly appropriate, i'm sure the medical services would be offered free by our good doctors and nurses, who must have seen hell in a little girl's eyes.

There can be no other reasonable, rational nor indeed compassionate response.

The ANC’s all-time top 10 most disturbing quotes

http://inside-politics.org/

By: Gareth van Onselen

FEATURE: I have compiled into a list what I consider to be the ANC’s 10 most disturbing quotes of the last 18 years. Each one made a significant impact on current affairs and, significantly, revealed the ANC’s real thinking, so they are worth documenting and recalling. But I am open to suggestions. The point of this article is to generate a discussion. So read them and leave your comments. Did Zuma’s shower quote make the list? Malema on nationalisation? Mbeki on Aids? Read on and find out. Also, leave your thoughts on Twitter, I will use the hashtag #ANCQuotes

___________________________________________

Please read it, it's frightening because as the author points out, these are all unopposed by the ANC, not their usual foot in mouth disease, denied within hours. These statements stand historically as the ANC's official standpoint on certain items. Some, like AIDS, is now history, but all have impacted mllions of South Africans negatively, ongoing and getting worse by the day.

Life for Rent

"Life For Rent"

I haven't ever really found a place that I call home
I never stick around quite long enough to make it
I apologize once again I'm not in love
But it's not as if I mind
that your heart ain't exactly breaking

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try
Well how can I say I'm alive

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

___________________________________________

No idea why, but this song has been on my mental playlist for the last few days. Very soothing.

Skating away

http://lifeissavage.com/2013/02/05/footage-of-cape-town-skateboarder-setting-off-kloof-nek-speed-camera-goes-viral-video/

This skater is now a legend!!!

Cut away

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga

Siberia Family

Then, Pismenskaya said,

beside a stream there was a dwelling. Blackened by time and rain, the hut was piled up on all sides with taiga rubbish—bark, poles, planks. If it hadn't been for a window the size of my backpack pocket, it would have been hard to believe that people lived there. But they did, no doubt about it.... Our arrival had been noticed, as we could see.

The low door creaked, and the figure of a very old man emerged into the light of day, straight out of a fairy tale. Barefoot. Wearing a patched and repatched shirt made of sacking. He wore trousers of the same material, also in patches, and had an uncombed beard. His hair was disheveled. He looked frightened and was very attentive.... We had to say something, so I began: 'Greetings, grandfather! We've come to visit!'

The old man did not reply immediately.... Finally, we heard a soft, uncertain voice: 'Well, since you have traveled this far, you might as well come in.'

The sight that greeted the geologists as they entered the cabin was like something from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—"a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar," with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:

The silence was suddenly broken by sobs and lamentations. Only then did we see the silhouettes of two women. One was in hysterics, praying: 'This is for our sins, our sins.' The other, keeping behind a post... sank slowly to the floor. The light from the little window fell on her wide, terrified eyes, and we realized we had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Karp Lykov and his daughter Agafia, 

Agafia Lykova (left) with her sister, Natalia.

Dmitry (left) and Savin in the Siberian summer.

A very moving story, but most of all, look at the light in the old man's eyes. There is much to learn for us from this simple story, most of all to realise we are the enemy.
Another small note, the family is referred to as "lost" ... what an astonishing error.